Billerica schools superintendent: Average is no longer good enough

By Rick Sobey, rsobey@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/29/2013 08:55:39 AM EDT

Piwowar: Billerica s schools "need to learn from other districts having success."

BILLERICA -- One glance at funding and test scores for a school system, and it's easy to make a generalized connection: When funding is up, test scores go up; when the funding is down, test scores go down.

For Billerica Public Schools, the funding is less than area towns and the state average, which is predictably followed by test scores that come up short.

Superintendent of Schools Tim Piwowar admits he can't ask the town for a 10 percent increase in funding, so how does he make Billerica the "destination for education in the Merrimack Valley"?

It's a long work in progress, but Piwowar is confident Billerica can get there.

"To have a first-class education for our children, we need to work on allocating resources differently, and we're constantly making changes every step of the way," he said. "How can we take the limited dollars we have and use them as smartly and efficiently as possible?

"Would I like to have more? Absolutely, but I have to work with what's here," Piwowar added. "In the same ways that companies try to learn from other companies that are having success, we also need to learn from other districts having success."

In the most recent per-pupil financial data and test scores, from 2012, Billerica lagged in funding and academic achievement compared to area schools.

Andover, which Piwowar said is a similarly sized district that he would like to mirror, had a higher per-pupil cost, at $10,592, exactly $1,500 more than Billerica's.

Shawsheen Valley Technical High School, which is located in Billerica but is much smaller than Billerica Public Schools, also had a higher per-pupil cost, at $14,065, almost $5,000 more than Billerica.

The average per-pupil cost across the state was $10,772, about $1,700 higher than Billerica.

Coupled with the subpar funding, Billerica was behind in test scores and graduation rates. Billerica's average SAT score in 2012 was 1533, behind Andover (1708), Chelmsford (1675) and Innovation Academy Charter School in Tyngsboro (1627).

Billerica was slightly ahead of the state average (1530), but Piwowar said he wants to get away from average and move to the top.

"For years, we've been content with comparing ourselves with the state, but if we want to be the best, we have to compare ourselves with the best," Piwowar said. "And that's not just educationally -- it's financially, as well."

Billerica's average high-school MCAS math score in 2012 was 92.2, compared to 97.1 in Andover, 95.6 at Shawsheen Tech and 96.2 in Chelmsford.

Billerica was also behind in middle and elementary MCAS math, as well as middle and elementary MCAS English/language arts.

Billerica's four-year graduation rate in 2012 was 90 percent, less than the 98 percent at Shawsheen Tech, 95 percent in Andover, 96 percent in Chelmsford and 94 percent at Innovation.

Piwowar said Billerica has lower funding partly because Shawsheen Tech and other schools have attracted more Billerica students in the last decade.

Shawsheen Tech, for instance, has increased its student population by 30 percent in the last 10 years. Superintendent Charles Lyons said there "must be a reason why students want to come here."

"If students like coming to school every day, then they graduate on time and get career opportunities," Lyons said. "We get students jobs and into technical and vocational programs. Parents appreciate what we do, and the kids excel. I hope that Billerica and all high schools excel."

But the student population and funding have been down in Billerica, and the schools haven't excelled as much as Piwowar would like.

"We want this to be the place where students in Billerica go," Piwowar said. "I never have a problem if they want to go to a different school, but if they're running from us, that's when I have a problem and (it) means we're not doing everything we can."

Part of the reason for fewer students has been the physical structure of Billerica Memorial High School, which is an old building that doesn't have the technological capacity for today's age, he said. A new or renovated high school is on the horizon; Piwowar submitted a "statement of interest" for a new/renovated high school to the Massachusetts School Building Authority in April.

He also said the administration needs to better promote the accomplishments in their schools, improving the schools' perception in Billerica and beyond the town.

"If the first thing they think is, the high school's an old, run-down building, that's not what we want," Piwowar said. "We want people to think of marketing kids winning national championships, award-winning musicals, partnerships with businesses, and kids can do this and kids can do that."

He added that professional development has "lagged way behind" for years, and the district needs to make sure that all the contact time with staff is "sacred and well-used." This year, the district will hold its second annual Billerica Educator Institute, a series of mini-workshops before the school year on all kinds of topics, including technology and speech pathology.

"It's a low-cost solution to getting a lot of people good, quality training," Piwowar said. "The workshops are relevant and important to teachers improving their practice, and we're excited about doing it again this year."

In addition, the high school is adding four new advanced-placement classes this year, thanks to a grant. Students will be able to take AP computer science, environmental science, noncalculus-based physics and the higher-level calculus.

"We have a ton of talented students at the high school, and we need to encourage students to challenge themselves as much as possible," Piwowar said.

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